Radio Frequency (RF) wideband technology has been used to distribute TV signals to businesses and residences. An exemplary installation includes a proprietary coaxial distribution architecture with amplifiers, splitters/taps and equalizers used to balance the system. If the user desires add/on or move, or change to the configuration, the system is redesigned and rebalanced for optimal performance.
The ability to control bidirectionally the distribution of the RF and the signal sets in a systematic plug-in-play fashion over a TIA/EIA 568 standard structured cabling involves specific transmission algorithms. These algorithms address picture quality by providing optimum levels to the video appliances over a wire line (i.e., cable) or wireless media.
Communication services such as voice and data are transported on a global wiring platform standard (e.g., TIA/EIA 568). Proprietary wiring systems (i.e., coaxial cable) are used for the distribution of wideband RF signals or channels. Internet (IP) video, although adaptable to the TLA/EIA 568 standard, can be limited and disruptive to the data network particularly with transport of high definition television channels.
An unshielded twisted pair passive system is not systemic and includes components such as baluns, splitters and amplifiers. This approach can be limited on bandwidth transport and can involve expertise in radio frequency design for large installations. An untwisted pair active system is bandwidth limited but is installation friendly, i.e., no radio frequency experience is necessary.
A passive coaxial system includes components such as coax cable, amplifiers, splitters and signal tabs, and can involve knowledge of radio frequency design to install and balance the system. It can be a proprietary system, not well documented for future reference. A baseband switch system distributes analog baseband signals over unshielded twisted pair cables. The architecture can be star wired back to the switch system in using the unshielded twisted pairs.
Video over IP does utilize the TIA/EIA 568 wiring standard. The video quality is based on the bandwidth available for video applications. If mission critical data applications take higher priority, video quality can be degraded.